By adopting a tougher stance against divorce through stricter divorce laws, couples and children can enjoy the real security of marriage. It will encourage individual spouses to invest more in the marriage as a life long commitment if they know that all their effort will not go vain through an arbitrary, unwanted divorce decree.

The original intention of relaxing the divorce laws was to allow individuals an easy exit from a bad marriage. Research, however, shows that the number of unhappy marriages has not decreased. Instead, there has been a sharp rise in the number of broken families due to divorce and easier divorce laws have failed to ease the bitterness between a couple due to divorce.

What is surprising to find is that women especially feminists were the main advocates for easier divorce laws as a step towards women’s emancipation. Now, it is the women, especially the college educated ones, who are asking for divorce laws to be made stricter. There are several reasons in favour of raising the barrier for divorce by enacting stricter divorce laws.

The legal system in a society represents the bar the society sets for its citizens. It can be about their level of non acceptance of crime or about the values they expect from citizens. The society conveys these values to the future generation too through the laws they enact. Thus, by allowing marriages to be dissolved easily we essentially convey to the present and future generations that it holds little sanctity for us and negate the importance of commitment in a marriage. Thus easier laws mean more instances of divorce and more social acceptance towards it.

Second, the way out of a marriage has been made so easy that it has become a popular solution for any marital problem. Marriages need commitment and hard work to not only be successful but to even survive. It takes a lot patience, willingness and understanding to forge a strong bond with your partner which is not only about romance.

All problems in a marriage might not have a solution but divorce is not the only solution to all marital problems. With divorce made so convenient and acceptable, more and more couples shy away from the hard work that marriage demands and opt for divorce as the way out. This also deprives their children from developing the basic life skills of patience, commitment and hard work. They also start believing in quitting as soon as the going gets tough or when they simply get bored. Everything including human emotions and relationships become a disposable commodity for them.

Another point for tougher divorce laws is the effect it has on the children who come from broken families. It has long been believed that children are better off with a single parent than in families where there is conflict between the parents. This, however, is not true. Studies have gone on to show that if parents can just be together for the sake of the children without loving each other, the children fare much better in life than when there is a divorce. Parents ultimately are responsible for their children and they should be encouraged to provide stability to their children and remain a family.

Third, it is human nature to invest less in things with a greater risk factor and more in things with minimal risk. If we consider marriage as an investment, then couples are prone to invest more money, time and energy in it as if it were a secure investment. Considering the ready risk of divorce that easy divorce laws attribute to marriage today, a lot of couples hold back from giving it their best. Marriage has seen the transition from a sacrament to a contract to an arrangement. If it becomes easy to walk in and out of these arrangements, people will not only take hasty decisions while getting into it but also while walking out.

Society has made marriages weaker and children more vulnerable by making divorce easier. One half of marriages end in divorce despite overwhelming evidence that married people are happier, healthier and wealthier than unmarried ones.

Tougher divorce laws will definitely help the cause but they have to be supported by greater education and emphasis on relationships, commitment, equipping our children with life skills not just in theory but through live examples. Tougher divorce laws do not ban divorce, but create waiting periods that allow people to pause, think and consider the seriousness of dissolving a union that is still considered sacred by many in our society.